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The key paragraph: >The Cagots were not an ethnic group, nor a religious group. They spoke the same language as the people in an area and generally kept the sa
by hitekker 9y ago
The key paragraph:
>The Cagots were not an ethnic group, nor a religious group. They spoke the same language as the people in an area and generally kept the same religion as well. Their only distinguishing feature was their descent from families identified as Cagots. Few consistent reasons were given as to why they should be hated; accusations varied from Cagots being cretins, lepers, heretics, cannibals, to simply being intrinsically evil.
My take is that people generally enjoy having "punching bags". Based off this article and other instances of man's inhumanity to man, "punching bags" are people who are:
1) Outlets for existing grievances and resentments, a.k.a. scapegoats.
2) Powerless, weak, and unable to retaliate against abuse, a.k.a. victims.
3) Designed, in the minds of the abusers, for the purpose of being abused, a.k.a. inferior, subhuman etc.
Through this lens, the aforementioned "reasons" are rationalizations, a facade over our collective sadism. Sure, a single tragic event may start the cycles of violence, but the reactor that powers it over generations is our built-in desire to hurt "other" people, to take pleasure in "their" misery, and, most significantly, to pretend that "we" are doing so in the interests of morality, society, etc.
It feels good therefore, it must be good!
Such a twisted sentiment isn't always at the forefront of our minds, but given how often we as a species and as individuals have sought to make "punching bags" out of each other, I would say shared-sadism is more sublimated than staged.
- gnarbarian 9y agoNow we do the same thing with political parties!
- PhasmaFelis 9y agoAre you proposing that major political parties are "powerless, weak, and unable to retaliate against abuse"?
- gnarbarian 9y agoI'm referring more to people's tendency to dehumanize and hate another group.
- PhasmaFelis 9y agoThe rest of us are talking about something much more specific. Do read the article, it's interesting.
- hfuweuuwer77 9y ago> My take is that people generally enjoy having "punching bags". I don't think this is true for a person, but is regularly encouraged at the group level and higher. Particularly if the group has developed a hierachy. Nations states do this a lot. Religion does this a lot. Corporations do it a lot. I don't believe it's a truism of humans, but a truism of authoritarians and those with power. Fear of death is an individuals core motivator. Understanding ones environment, and safe ways to utilize what's available in it to prevent death. Authoritarians have manipulated the people around them to prevent their death. Authoritarians want to keep that power, so they peddle propaganda to their followers to give them a justification to support them, not $VILLAINS_OF_THE_WEEK.
- laretluval 9y ago"The surest way to work up a crusade in favor of some good cause is to promise people they will have a chance of maltreating someone. To be able to destroy with good conscience, to be able to behave badly and call your bad behavior 'righteous indignation' — this is the height of psychological luxury, the most delicious of moral treats." - Aldous Huxley